USN putting wind in Austal's sails

AUSTRALIA - Former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard gave then-US President Barack Obama an Australian rules football. Three years later then-PM Tony Abbott presented him with a surfboard. Fast forward to President Donald, who gave PM Scott Morrison a model of a US Navy Littoral Combat Ship being built by Australia’s 20-year-old US-based shipyard in Mobile, Ala. "I guess for me it’s unprecedented really, to see that kind of recognition for an Australian manufacturing company, maybe any company really, by the President of the United States," says Austal CEO David Singleton. “I suppose it almost felt like it was the final accolade in what has been a tremendously successful program," he said. The LCS is an all-aluminum trimaran ship. According to Austal, it is the only all-aluminum trimaran in service with any navy in the world. Austal-USA has contracts with the US Navy worth more than $12B (US) to manufacture 19 of the ships; the Alabama shipyard is about half way through that contract work, with nine ships delivered. Austal is the “only foreign company in the world, ever, to prime contract ships for the United States Navy,” Singleton told The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. It is “an enormous achievement in a relatively small period of time." The next big thing is the Navy awarding contract(s) for its Future Frigate Program (FFG(X)) in July. The US will be looking to build 20 at a total cost of about $20B (US), but the initial contract will likely be for 10. (Source: Sydney Morning Herald 01/02/20) https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/us-navy-puts-wind-in-austal-s-sails-20191219-p53ld9.html